


From out of the rift

by Iamthebad_wolf



Series: From out of the rift [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alien Technology, Aliens, F/M, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Injury, M/M, Medical, Medical Inaccuracies, Possession, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 06:07:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23346676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamthebad_wolf/pseuds/Iamthebad_wolf
Summary: Nova bishop does not belong to this worldTransported through the rift onto a new planet in a new universe, how will nova cope with the challenges ahead, and the ghosts she's left behind?
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Owen Harper/Original Female Character(s)
Series: From out of the rift [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679191
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If it's got * * these, it means it's in italics. For some reason I can't get them to italicize
> 
> Sorry about that.

The streets are busy. Cars drive by, taking people to work, to school, home, to hospital. Lives hustle and bustle onwards, never stopping. The world keeps turning.

But it's the wrong world.

Nova bishop does not belong to this planet.

Eyes scanning the area, she can latch onto where she is. Cardiff bay. Her earth has a Cardiff too. There is a sign telling passers by about the dangers of the deep water in the bay. Looking down at her feet, she takes in the pavement, the plants, the similarities and the differences, and finds herself already resigning to her fate. It's not like she had anything back home, but at least she knew how it worked.

"Hey, you!"

The voice comes out of nowhere, and causes her to turn around, looking for the person calling out. She can see two men, one in a long trench coat, the other in a leather jacket and jeans, sprinting towards her.

She stays completely still. They don't seem to be armed, and she wants to see where this is going.

It's not like she has anything left to lose.

"You there. Who are you?" The man with the trenchcoat asks as he reaches her, hands on his knees, panting to catch his breath.

"Nova bishop." And that's all she's going to say.

"Well, Nova bishop, did you know that you're absolutely teeming with rift energy?" The other man asks, a strange device in his hands, which looks somewhat akin to a scanner.

She looks between the two men. They know about the rift? Looking around, at this world so similar to her own, and yet so very different, she wonders if there are more things in common than she had originally thought. She crosses her arms. "Yeah, I'd sort of figured that."

***********************

Sitting on the bench in the medbay of Torchwood hub, nova can't think of anything other than how cold her bum is feeling, sitting on the metal. She watches the medic walk towards her, allowing him to do his checks. She also watch the way his eyes roam across her body. It makes her feel uncomfortable, but also makes something in her stomach flutter, like she's swallowed a hamster.

"age?" he asks.

"why?" She challenges.

He frowns at her. "You can't be more than, what? 18? 19? You look very young, and yet you know about the rift. How?"

"27."

"What?"

"I'm 27."

The medics eyebrows shoot up his forehead, causing nova to chuckle. She always got this back home, too. Once, when she was 18, she had to go and have a routine blood test at the hospital, and one of the nurses couldn't stop staring at her, thinking she was about 14, and not believing her when she said she didn't need an adult accompanying her. "You're really 27?"

She nods. She doesn't want to talk more than necessary, doesn't want to reveal herself to them in case they end up using it all against her. It's happened before...

Shaking her head, to get rid of *that* memory, she turns back to face him. But he's gone back to his computer, and is checking over some notes. "What's your name?"

She doesn't know any of their names yet. The two that had apprehended her, had refused to tell her anything as they brought her in.

The medic glances at her over his shoulder. "Why?"

"You know mine."

Hes silent for a second, wondering if telling her will cause him to lose his job. Probably not. Not if they plan to retcon her, anyway. "Owen."

"Just Owen?"

"Owen Harper."

"Nice to meet you, Owen Harper."

He smiles at her, but goes back to his work. She lets her mind wander, wondering what is happening back home, in her world. Have they realised what's happened? Are they looking for her? Are they too caught up on fixing what isla had done?

"....small prick."

She snaps back to attention, seeing Owen standing very close to her. "I'm flattered, really, but I've only just met you."

"God, not another one." There is a slight smile on his face as he complains, and then proceeds to plunge a needle into her arm. She doesn't flinch. That pain is nothing compared to what she's been through recently. He seems to notice that, but says nothing.

As hes turning away from her, she decides to try get to know him. He seems kind. "So, Owen Harper, how long have you worked for Torchwood?"

Owen's eyes snap to her, panic flaring, hackles raising. "Jack!"

She doesn't move, doesn't panic. She knew it was a stupid question to ask, knew it would raise questions of its own, but she's sick of being told nothing.

The man in the trench coat runs in, looking between Nova and Owen. There's a hand on his weapon in his belt, but there's no need for him to draw it, which in itself makes him pause. "Owen?"

"She knows about Torchwood."

She sighs, and runs a hand through her hair. "Yeah, you're not the only earth with a Torchwood."

Jack frowns, stepping closer. Owen stays where he is. "Did you used to work for Torchwood?"

That question makes Nova pause. Yeah she had worked for torchwood. But she doesn't know what jack is going to do upon learning that little fact. Nova has lost a lot because of Torchwood. She lost herself because of Torchwood. 

"Yes." She finally answers quietly.

"What did you do?" Jack asks again, eyeing her up. he doesn't know her age yet, and probably thinks she's a child making up stories.

"Weapons expert." She answers.

Frowning, Jack hands her his gun, which she takes gingerly. It's an old gun, however it's been kept in a very good condition. Strangely, it looks like it could be from world war two, although where Jack would have found it, nova wouldn't know. Maybe it was just designed to share the same style as the world war two hand guns. She hasn't dealt with many old earth weapons, mainly dealing with alien weaponry instead. But as she moves it around in her hands, she can see how everything must fit together, she can see the similarities to more modern weapons. She makes the decision to take the gun apart, stripping it to it's bare skeleton in ten seconds flat, and then reassembling it just as quickly. Looking up, Jack's expression is one of shock, and Owen seems to be smirking beside him. 

"Okay, weapons expert. How old are you exactly?"

"27."

"How long have you worked for Torchwood?"

The question, like many others she has faced today, makes her pause. Her answer will reveal a lot about her, but it's something that these people will need to know. "I was recruited on my 20th birthday."

Eyebrows hit the ceiling again. No one ever works for torchwood that young. The youngest before her was 25. I imagine it's much the same here. "How?"

She shrugs. "that's a story for another time."

She is not telling that story, absolutely not. That is a memory she buried away for a reason.

Jack nods, and turns away. "Is she human?"

He could have asked me that himself, she thinks

"Yes. And in perfect physical health." Owen adds, which makes her frown. Owen catches her expression, and immediately she makes her face blank.

Jack and Owen carry on talking for a minute, but she zones out. She's tired.

"Okay, so why did you frown when I said you were in perfect health?" Owen asks, stepping close to Nova as Jack leaves.

Nova stares at him, sizing him up. Strangely, there seems to be no alterior motive behind his question, merely concern. How can he care for someone he's never met? Although, maybe that's what you have to do to be a doctor. "My… my Torchwood fell apart, mainly because of something I'd done. There were… repercussions."

Anger sparks through Owen's features, but Nova says nothing more. "You can go."

His tone of voice suggests nova has done something wrong, but his eyes say the exact opposite. Knowing not to take his words to heart, she slides of the cold metal table and begins to walk through the hub, heading for the loos. She learns quickly that this earth's Torchwood hub has the exact same layout as her own back home. 

As she leaves the toilets, she accidentally bumps into someone else. A young man in a suit stands there.

"How did you know where the toilets were?"

"Because apart from the people, and the pterodactyl, my torchwood was identical." She tells him, walking past.

"Really?"

Her eyes roam up and down this stranger's body. He seems familiar. He looks like… "Not quite…. Your cyber girlfriend been discovered yet?" 

Ianto Jones. Her earth had a ianto Jones, a young archivist who died a couple of years ago after a particularly emotional time involving his cyber modified girlfriend. 

His face goes white, and she hears the rest of the room fall silent. He stares at her, and she can feel her heart tense up. Her Ianto was a good friend before he died. He was kind, and she had fought to save him, but he jumped in front of Lisa when the others killed her. She had cradled him whilst he died.

It is painful looking at him. But she holds his gaze.

"Ianto Jones." She says softly, his name a strange feeling on her tongue. "I'm sorry."

Ianto stares at her for a second, before barging past her and rushing to the head office, where Jack sits behind his desk. Ianto doesn't even knock before walking in, basically collapsing onto Jack's lap in tears. Jack engulfs him in a hug, whispering soft words into his ear. 

Guilt rips through Nova, as Jack looks down at her through the window. Nova holds his gaze. Clearly, this Torchwood team is more closely knit than hers ever was back home. 

A woman walks up to her. Her long black hair frames her face, a fringe tickling her eyebrows. She has a kind face, but it's interwoven with suspicion. "How did you know about Lisa?"

"My team had a Ianto. He's the only person I recognise here."

The woman places a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be hard, being away from them. But we'll find a way to get you back."

"No!" Nova blurts out before she can stop herself. The woman shoots her a quizzical look, and another woman sticks her head out from behind a computer screen. In the corner of her eye, she can just about make out Owen coming up from the autopsy bay. "I mean, it was a horrible experience going one way, I don't think I want to go through that again."

They don't fall for her lie, she can see it in their eyes. Thankfully, they don't question her further. The woman just nods. "Okay, well then. I'll show you some gadgets we've found, see what you can make of them."

Nova nods,, glad to feel useful.

She has her secrets, but maybe this world won't be so bad.

******************

During the following three weeks, nova and the Torchwood team become very close. Jack quickly hires nova, after it turns out she knows too much to be able to go back into a normal civilian lifestyle. Tosh sorts her out an apartment to stay in, but it's too quiet, and she spends the weeks sleeping on the couch in the hub before Owen offers her a place to stay at his apartment in his spare room. She apologises to ianto as soon as she can, and he thankfully forgives her, saying it must have been a misunderstanding. It still hurts to look at him, but ianto and nova form a natural bond. Nova and gwen develop a bond over alien weaponry, and she seems to impress tosh with her skill with technology. Owen and her share the same sort of pessimistic humour, so although they don't spend a lot of time working together, the bond they form is a strong one. Her relationship with Jack is another story, however. They don't exactly bond with each other, but seem to enter a weird father daughter relationship, him being extremely protective over her. But he also eyes her with a lot of suspicion, maybe he never forgave her from what she said to ianto, or maybe he doesn't trust how much I know about Torchwood. 

Surprisingly, despite her history with Torchwood, she finds herself falling in love with her job. If you had to ask who she was closest to, she would undoubtedly say Owen. Sleeping in his guest room, travelling home with him every day after work, nova feels safe for the first time in a long time. After about a week of living together they fall into a routine of cooking together, ordering a take away, and sometimes sharing a bottle of wine with a movie on the TV. The first time they wake up cuddling after a movie night makes things awkward at work, but it doesn't stop them from doing it again.

The rift also gets a lot more active, but thankfully, no one from novas world comes through. She doesn't need to be seeing her ghosts everywhere. Lots more weevils come through though, and nova gets sent to the medbay a couple times to be patched up, but never complains. After all, it's gives her an excuse to spend more time with Owen.

Despite how well everything is going for her, one thing plays on her mind:

"Captain Jack harkness."

She fiddles with a ball of alien technology, rolling it in her hands and she repeats the captain's name over and over again. It plays in the back of her mind. She could have sworn she knew it. 

"Nova, seriously. Let it go." Owen groans from behind his laptop. 

Nova sighs, collapsing onto a chair by the kitchen table. She is on dinner duty today, cooking chili con carne. "I know but, I could have sworn it means something." When he had first given his full name, nova had been shocked to realise she recognised it. 

"Yeah, it means that's what he's called." Owen teases, not.mentioning the fact than an RAF pilot in the 40s is the true owner of the name.

"Don't get clever with me, Owen." Nova teases back. Giving up trying to remember his name, she turns her attention back to the metal device in her hands. It's covered in buttons and switches, sliding panels. She and tosh have been trying to work out what it does for ages, to no avail. 

She flicks a switch, and a blinding pain shoots up her arm. She drops the ball, collapsing from the chair as she clutches her arm. It takes everything she has to not cry out in pain. 

Owen is at her side in an instant, pulling her into his lap so he can get a better look at her arm. Red burn marks spread up from her fingers to the crook of her elbow, like lightning bolts scarring her skin.

"That's it, you're not bringing anymore stupid alien stuff home with you." Owen grumbles, getting a cold press and applying it to the burns on her arm. She winces, but the cold is nice. 

"Sorry. Me and tosh have been trying to figure out what it does. I'll just make some bullshit up so we can stick it in the archives and forget about it." Nova says, managing to sit up on her own, allowing Owen to go and get the first aid kit. He returns and bandages her arm up to mid upper arm, even though the burns don't go that high. 

"You're lucky. It shouldn't scar too badly." Owen tells her. He helps her to her feet, keeping his hand on her lower back as he helps her to the couch. Her head feels a little woozy from the pain, and her arm hurts, but other than that, she feels fine. 

They finish their evening by eating the chili in front of a movie with a bottle.of wine, before nova announces she's going to have an early night. 

But after two hours of tossing and turning, she finds she's in too much pain to sleep, and her mind just won't switch off. So she sneaks back out to the couch, finding something else she can watch. Most of the film's on this earth are different to the ones back home, but some are similar enough. She's already binged all the Disney movies, and was ecstatic to learn they were almost exactly the same as the ones she'd grown up watching. 

About half an hour into a random movie she put on in the hopes it would send her to sleep, Owen peeks his head around his bedroom door. "Nova?"

Nova shifts on the sofa. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

He shakes his head, walking over. "no, I couldn't sleep either."

Nova shifts over, creating enough space for him to slump down next to her. All too soon, nova is curled up on Owens arms, fast asleep. Owen smiles into her hair, before quickly following suit.

*********************

"What did you do to your arm?" Gwen cries as soon as she sees nova the next morning. 

Nova and Owen share a smile before Owen tries to escape the interrogation by going to the autopsy bay. But Gwen grabs him by the collar before he can run away and hits him on the arm. "You're meant to be looking after her!" 

Owen winces, rubbing his arm. "ow! I am looking after her. Who do you think bandaged her up?"

Gwen stares daggers at Owen, and nova can't help but snigger at how sheepish he looks. 

"Gwen, it's true. You don't need to kill him just yet." Nova tells her. She walks over to Tosh's desk, and dumps the strange alien ball on her desk. "This thing is a storage unit. But if you try to get into it wrong it, well, you get quite a nasty shock." Nova bullshits, holding up her bandaged arm as evidence.

Tosh nods, disappointed at how mundane the mysterious object turned out to be. Nova isn't going to tell her that she honestly has no idea what the thing is. "Fine, I guess we can just archive it then. We have plenty of less shock inducing storage units."

Nova nods, rushing off to find ianto. 

She stumbles across him with Jack down in the archives doing something she never needed to see. 

"Holy mother of god!" Nova yelps, slamming the door shut as soon as she sees what's happening on the other side. "I'll… I'll come back later."

"They doing it down in the archives?" Owen asks, seeing novas red cheeks as she makes her way back. "Can they really not keep it in their pants while at work?"

Nova says nothing, rubbing her eyes as she collapses into her desk chair. 

"That bad?" Owen teases, rubbing her on the shoulders. 

"Owen, my office, now!" Jack orders, walking in, followed by a rather sheepish looking ianto. 

Owen groans, and follows Jack -who is still doing his belt up - up to his office. Jack proceeds to lecture Owen about the dangers of alien technology, and why they are forbidden from taking it from the base unless on missions. When Owen tries to defend himself, jack adds that nova is new to the world, and needs protecting.

Meanwhile, Nova goes and finds Ianto, who is standing at the coffee station trying to pretend he hasn't just gotten busted. "What can I do for you?"

"Apart from pretending that that never happened?" Nova teases. She holds up the alien ball. "I need you to archive this. And don't tell tosh, but I've no idea what it is. I told her it's a storage thingy, but it gave me a nasty burn so I don't think it's worth investigating further."

Ianto nods. "will do." He takes the device from her hands and goes back to the archives. 

The rest of the morning is spent writing up reports on missions, and on certain devices and pieces of washes up tech. But as she works, Nova keeps finding her gaze returning to Owen. Some of the times she's looked to him, she's found him looking back at her. She knows what happening, she's falling for.him, and she can't afford that right now. 

What's worse is that she can't tell if Owen likes her back or not. 

And she can't tell which way she would prefer it. If they both like each other and enter a relationship, it could become extremely awkward if things end up not working out. And if it turns out Owen doesn't like her in that way, and she confesses how she feels, that again will make the working environment extremely awkward to be in every day.

Something she does know, however, is that the pain in her arm is growing, and she's going to have to go and see Owen eventually to get it checked. 

Fuck it, she thinks, getting up from her station and dumping her ass in the medbay. Owen raises an eyebrow but says nothing, knowing she must be in pain to be here voluntarily.

He peels back the bandage, wincing as he sees the tender burn beneath has turned into a blister. "That's nasty."

"I know." Nova winces. "Fix it and hit me up with a shed load of painkillers. I've got to get back to.work." 

Owen smirks, and nova can see something hidden in those beautiful eyes of his. Hope. 

Shit. 

"Fine then. I mean if you don't want to be hanging around my sorry ass…" Owen jokes. 

Nova scowls, but complies with Owens orders as he drains the blister, applies a salve and rewraps her arm. He then injects her with a moderate strength painkiller. As he turns back to his computer to make notes on her injury as it's technically work related, nova gets up to leave. 

"We need to talk." Owens voice makes Nova pause. His tone suggests something is deeply wrong, and she doesn't want to hear it. 

"Talk about what?"

"This morning." He says. "Sleeping next to you. You didn't cry out once."

Frowning, she turns to look at him. "I'm sorry?" 

It's his turn to frown. "You cry out in your sleep. I'm guessing from nightmares?" 

Nova doesn't move, neither confirming or denying his prognosis. But the truth is, she does get nightmares. Not shocking, really, considering the things she's seen because of this job. But it's more than that. She sees the world she left behind, all the people, the things they did, the things she did. She sees their faces, she sees her monsters, and every night when she closes her eyes it's like she's back in her old world, fearing for her life again. 

It's only when she wakes up, sees her small room in Owens flat, that she realises she isn't in danger, that she's safe. She hadn't realised that she cried out. 

"If you ever need me, if you ever want to talk to anyone about what you dream, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." There's is so much kindness in his voice. No one has been this kind to her since the ianto from her world died. 

"Why are you nice to me?" 

Owen frowns. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You don't know me. You don't know what I've done." 

"No, but I know what you've done here. You aren't your past. You are what you are trying to be right now." 

"And what exactly is that?"

"I couldn't tell you." Owen shrugs. "but I can tell you one thing."

"And what is that?" Nova crosses her arms, suddenly feeling like Owen is playing a game with her. 

"I sure as hell would like to take you out for a drink some time.”

A blush creeps across her cheeks at his words. She hadn't expected him to say those words. "okay."

He frowns, almost like he didn't actually think she'd accept. "what?"

"Okay."

"You'll have a drink with me?"

"Yeah."

And that's how they found themselves crawling out of a bar at 2am the next morning, giggling to themselves like children, as booze and muddy puddles soaked into the knees leaving stains. The concrete was cold beneath their hands but they didn't care, their alcohol fuddled systems too busy trying to work out how the hell they were meant to get home, since neither of them could drive, and it was at least a forty minute walk home. 

One tense taxi drive later, during which they'd both been very close to throwing up, they stiegfled to unlock the door. Shoes are kicked off and left strewn about on the floor, coats are thrown onto the sofa, shirts and trousers are haphazardly thrown off and they collapse into bed in their underwear, not thinking of anything other than sleep. Their heads are going to kill tomorrow, but they don't care, they had a good time. 

And despite the alcohol swirling around her system, it's the best night's sleep nova has had since arriving in this world. 

*********************

"Hey nova! Best Disney movie?"

Swivelling in her chair, nova turns to look at jack who is arguing with tosh and ianto over the best Disney movie. She doesn't know what triggered the argument, but that isn't going to stop her from joining in on what will quite easily be the most dramatic non work related argument of the month.

"Mulan. Easy. Closely followed by the lion king."

"What?" How can you say that?" Owen joins in, walking in from the autopsy bay, where he's been all morning. 

"Um, Mulan has the song "make a man out of you", her love interest is most definitely bisexual, and there's fucking war! It shows the devestation of war in a real way for kids. Plus, in both movies, the love story is the side plot, proving to kids that love don't solve all life's problems, sometimes life just sucks and you've got to deal with it."

"Fairs. But showing mufasa dead to kids, you've got to think that's fucked up?" Owen challenges. 

"People die, Owen. You should know that better than most considering what your job is." Ianto jumps in. 

"Yeah, but killed by a stampede!" Owen whines. 

Nova frowns. "So?" 

"That's just fucking brutal. And you can see the pain on his face. It's… why would you show that in a kids cartoon?"

Nova can't help but laugh at the tortured look on Owens face. "Never knew you were so passionate about the subject."

Owen throws her a sheepish look. "I just didn't like the lion king as a kid."

Nova laughs again. She wants to suggest a Disney movie night. They all struggle to unwind from work, and maybe that's just the thing that will do it. But before she gets the chance, an alerts rings out on tosh's computer. Immediately, they all go from squabbling children to professionals.

"Weevil on the lose!" Tosh calls out, her computer screen showing CCTV on a street not too far from here. A weevil scurries down it, glancing back over its shoulder as it goes. Clearly, it's running from something. Maybe it's like Janet, and angered some of the other weevils, or maybe, more shockingly, it's running from a human being. It's not common, but weevil trappers catch weevils, sell them on, to people who use them as bait for bigger animal, as creatures to hunt, or for fighting rings. Owen had told nova he'd once gotten in a cage with a weevil, desperate to be ripped apart, so it's a known thing that happens, even if not often. 

Jack snaps into action. "Nova, Owen and Gwen, you head after that thing. Tosh, monitor from here, offer up any guidance needed, and me and ianto will try and track down where the thing came from."

It's a classic weevil hunt, although why Jack is sending three people to do a two man job is beyond their reasoning. But they do as he says, and arrive at the scene quickly. 

It's easy to stun the creature, and get it into the SUV. The whole thing takes place at the back of an alleyway, so they don't even have to worry about onlookers. Owen and Nova share a joke about that, and he keeps laughing as he gets into the SUV. 

Nova is just about to get in, when something catches her eye. There's something small, about the size of a phone, but more cylindrical, just lying on the ground. Stupidly, she allows curiosity to get the better of her, and she doesn't follow protocol as she picks up the device with her bare hands. The thing is covered in little bumps, some of them buttons, or little switches. 

The second she touches it, a current flows through her body. She can feel it invading her mind. 

The shock causes her to stumble, to drop the device. She slips over on something, and tumbles over backwards, smacking her head on the concrete. The force knocks her out. 

"Nova? Nova darling, look at me." 

She opens her eyes to the fuzzy image of Owen right above her. The concern on his face is worrying. How long was she out?

"There we are, sweetheart. You're okay. Just fell and hit your head. Let's get you back to the hub, shall we." Owen helps Nova sit up, and then into the back of the SUV. The whole time, she's trying to reply, tell him she feels fine apart from the ache in the back of her head, but her mouth doesn't seem to want to coordinate. 

Okay, so maybe not fine after all. 

At the hub, Ianto and Jack take control of the weevil. Their little tracking mission hadn't revealed anything about where the weevil had come from, or if it was a part of something bigger, so for the moment it's just being treated as a one off case. 

Owen takes Nova straight to the medbay, sittin her on the bench and running his fingers through her hair, trying to see if there are any wounds, or lumps he has to fix up. There is a small cut, which he gets to work stitching up straight away. 

"You sure you're okay? You've barely said anything since you fell." Owen questions. 

Barely said anything? She hasn't said a word, but not for a lack of trying. She keeps trying to say his name, one simple word, but it's like her body won't respond. It doesn't even move when she tells it to. 

*Something happened when I picked up that device. Something happened when it shocked me. *

Seriously, she's had enough of stupid alien devices shocking her. 

"Fine. Honestly." Her mouth opens and says the words, but it's not Nova thinking those words. She knows something is wrong, even if she doesn't know just how wrong yet. 

"I'm nearly done with this cut. But you'll have to be on desk duty until tomorrow at least." Owen says, finishing off the last stitch. "I'll check you over again tomorrow evening, see how you're doing. And keep it dry."

Her head moves, a nod. 

"How's our injured trooper?" Jack jokes, leaning on the railings above us. Normally nova would smile, or roll her eyes. But her body stays completely still. 

*Okay…*

*Something else is controlling my body!*

*Shit.*

"She'll be fine with a bit of rest. Although she will be on desk duty tomorrow. Doctor's orders." Owen tells jack. His eyes squint, ever so slightly as he looks at her, a look she can only see because I she's gotten close to him in the months she's been here. 

But Jack doesn't seem to think anything is wrong. "Okay. So long as there's no permanent damage." He turns and bounds back into the hub, calling for Ianto. 

Owen gives her a worried look. "Are you sure you'll be fine?"

*No, something's taken control of my body!*

"Course."

She hops up off the table and makes her way to her desk, without another glance at Owen. It feels wrong, not to have made a move for his hand, to hug him, to give him a gentle kiss on the forehead and reassure him everything's fine. 

But everything isn't fine. Something is most definitely wrong. 

Nova thinks Owen can see that, but can't know for certain, because whatever is controlling her body isn't turning to look at him. Why would it? It doesn't think of Owen like she does, doesn't feel for him the way she does. 

Jack starts barking out orders again, but Nova is too busy paying attention to what this thing is doing with her computer. It's hacking into the medical records, searching for what toxins they have in the base. 

*No! You can't do this!*

Whatever is controlling her answers her unspoken screams, a voice that isn't hers appearing in her mind.

*Can't I? You're not the one in control of your body anymore. That's me. *

*Who are you?*

*My name is Asheera*

*What are you?*

*I am a ghost. The last of a species long dead, kept inside my prison. That device. When you touched it, you freed me. But I'm still not free enough.*

*What are you going to do?*

*Don't worry. I won't kill your friends if I can avoid it. Just pray they don't get in my way.*

Asheera closes down the file she is looking at, and turns to see everyone else leaving the hub. Nova hadn’t heard the orders, and so doesn't know what they've gone in search of. Everyone is gone but Ianto. He smiles at Nova, and Asheera smiles back, keeping up the facade. Ianto goes up to Jack's office, and starts doing whatever it is that he does all day. 

Asheera gets up, and starts going through Owens perfectly catalogued neurotoxins. Thankfully, during a particularly quiet spell, Owen got bored and taught Nova what each one does, just in case she should ever need to use one against an invader to the base. Asheera may or may not also share that knowledge, but she picks out one that will do no lasting damage, but will keep the victims out cold for a couple hours. 

Victim. 

Nova hates that word.

Asheera prepares five syringes. The whole time nova is watching her hands move under someone else's control, and it's a bizarre feeling. To see her body move but not be the one moving it. She puts all the syringes in a little box, which she puts in her pocket. All the syringes but one. 

"Ianto! Can you come here for a second please?" Asheera yells out. Dread settles in Nova's stomach. She's going to use it on Ianto. 

She moves so that she's hidden from Ianto’s view, and can ambush him a second. The second he enters the medbay, she stabs him with the syringe. 

Arms flailing, nova can see the panic in his eyes as he looks towards her and Asheera. "what are you doing?" 

A cruel smile graces her lips. "Sorry. But I need you out the way." 

"Nova?" 

Nova blinks three times in quick succession. She doesn't know if that means anything to the team here, but back on her world, three taps, blinks, whistles etc, three meant SOS. It also meant 'i love you', so you just had to be careful in which context you used it. 

Ianto frowns, but his body grows sluggish, fighting consciousness. 

"I'm sorry Ianto. But I can't have anyone try to stop me. This is the only way I can get free."

"Nova? Why are you doing this?" He draws his gun, but falls to his knees, the drug doing its job. Nova's filled with worry for him, hoping he'll be alright. 

As soon as he's out cold, Asheera moves into action. She steals his gun, tucking it into the waistband of her trousers. Ianto is heavier than he looks, as nova can feel the strain in her muscles as Asheera picks him up and begins dragging ianto towards the cells. She takes his access card, and strips his jacket from him, emptying anything she finds in his pockets. After shutting him in, she disabled the lock on the cell, so he won't be able to be let out by any of the others. 

Then they wait. 

*********************


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, these * * mean the words are in italics
> 
> sorry, i know its annoying, im trying to sort it

The alarms blare when the cog door opens, signalling the team have returned. Owen carries a cardboard box in his hands, in which there is some random alien tech sticking out at random angles. Nova, or rather Asheera, stands on one of the high up walkways, watching them enter. 

Asheera begins making her way back down towards the team. From an untrained eye, nothing is wrong with this situation. 

"Ianto! Nova!" Jack calls, skipping through the hub towards the coffee station where he was expecting to find Ianto. 

"He's down in the archive at the moment." Asheera calls back, reaching the floor. She smiles at Owen, and then the rest of the team. "How'd it go?" 

"Easy. Basic collection of tech." Tosh tells her. She goes to her computer and begins tapping away at her keyboard, doing whatever it is that she does on there. 

"Can you get Ianto up here, I'm feeling like a Chinese today." Jack moans, making his way towards his office. He pats his stomach as he goes, a smile on his face. Maybe there's more than one reason why he wants Ianto up here. 

"I can go." Owen offers. 

"Not like you to offer up a food collection?" Asheera teases, mimicking what nova would say. "Why don't I go? I've not done much today."

"Hey. It gets me out of looking at all this tech, besides, you've been off duty for a reason." Owen shrugs, grabbing the keys to the SUV from tosh, and beginning to make his way back to the cog door. "usual orders?"

Asheera nods, which confuses Owen. Nova doesn't quite have a usual order yet, too busy trying out the new cuisine; they don't have Chinese takeaways on her earth. But Owen doesn't question it for some reason, and must just think she wants what she got last time. 

As soon as he's out of the hub, Asheera begins to worry. Soon, the remaining members of her team are going to find out what happened to Ianto. 

"Jack, can I show you something. Ianto found it in the archives earlier." Asheera says, trying to sound as casual as possible. It seems to work, as Jack falls for it, and begins following her down towards the archives. 

Nova knows Asheera is making this up on the fly. She also knows that Asheera doesn't know about jack's healing abilities, which Noah only knows about because jack got shot on a mission once and was perfectly fine the next day. 

As soon as they are out of view from the girls, Asheera takes one of the needles filled with the drug, and stabs it into Jack's shoulder. 

Jack spins around, pushing her up against the wall. He pins her there with one arm, while using the other to remove the syringe. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry jack. But I need out. This is the only way to make sure you won't follow me." Asheera yells him, her voice low. 

The drug is starting to do its job, jacks eyes becoming unfocussed. "Nova? I thought you liked it here?"

Asheera pouts. "not nova, I'm afraid. She's still in here somewhere, but I'd forget about her if I were you. I'm not planning on giving this body up any time soon."

Jack frowns, but the drug is too strong. He falls to the ground, his muscles gone completely lax. Asheera gets to work, dragging him towards the cells. Ianto is still unconscious in his cell, so Asheera puts jack in with him. She steals Jack's vortex manipulator, and his communicator from his ear. She leaves, just as ianto is beginning to stir. 

"Nova?" Ianto asks, watching her walk away. 

Asheera smiles. "Wrong again."

*********************

"Gwen, look at this." Tosh says, alarmed. She's pointing at something on her computer screen. As Gwen gets closer she can make out that it's CCTV footage of the cells. 

"What's happening, tosh?" Gwen asks, frowning. 

"Look." As Gwen watches, she sees nova dragging an unconscious ianto into a cell. She stripped him of his weapon, and emptied out his pockets before disabling the lock so that only she could use it. After that, the screen goes black. 

"The cameras in the cells haven't worked since." Tosh tells Gwen, a worried look passing between the two women. 

"She did seem a bit off earlier, when we came back." Gwen adds. "And she got Jack to go.off alone with her."

Immediately the two of them drew their guns. "something's made nova go rogue." 

"Well done." The voice comes from behind them. They spin on the spot, to see Nova standing by the steps to the autopsy bay. 

Gwen raises her gun, but Nova fires first, hitting Gwen in the shoulder. Gwen screams, collapsing to the ground. "tut tut."

"Nova?" 

Nova shakes her head. "nope. She's still.in here somewhere, screaming away, begging me not to hurt you."

Tosh is bent at Gwen's side, supporting her, as she puts pressure against the bullet wound in Gwen's shoulder. "Who are you?"

"My name's Asheera. And I need out of here." Nova says, she walks over to them, bending down in from of them. She grabs Tosh's gun, and then Gwen's, sliding them out of their reach. "If you go down to the cells, I'll supply you with all the medical equipment you'll need. If not, I'll let you bleed out."

Tosh looks at Gwen. But Gwen has her eyes scrunched closed, her breathing erratic as she tries to control the pain she's feeling. "okay, we'll go to the cells."

"Good girl." Asheera coos, helping Gwen to her feet. She presses the barrel of her gun against tosh's back, just to make the woman think twice about double crossing her. 

The three of them make their way to the cells, where ianto already waits. Asheera guides tosh and Gwen to a different cell, locking them in much like she did to.ianto and jack. 

"You can't do this!" Ianto screams, smacking his hand against the glass. 

Asheera pouts, then sticks the barrel of her gun through the hole in the glass. "Really? Because from where I'm standing, with this trusty old gun, I can do whatever I want."

"Fine. Just get Gwen the medical.supplies!" Tosh shouts. She's watching her colleague bleed out, and it's a horrible thing to see. 

Asheera lowers the gun and nods. Turning to leave the cells, and hold up her side of the bargain, she pauses. Distantly, she can hear the sound of the cog door opening. "shit."

Owens back. 

Tosh is banging against the glass of her cell as Asheera looks back, a cruel smile on her face. She shrugs. "Sorry, change of plan." 

"No!" Tosh calls.

Asheera runs back into the main hub, and places herself just out of sight from Owen. She doesn't know what to do. She thought she had longer before he came back, enough time to make a run for it. 

"Nova? Tosh? Hello? Jack, ianto? Gwen? Where are you guys?" Owen calls, wandering about. He dumps two bags of takeaway on his desk and begins wandering towards jack's office. 

Asheera sighs. She's not going to be able to get out of here without some sort of confrontation. 

*Please don't hurt him.* Nova begs. 

*Why? Why don't you like it when I hurt them?*

*They're my family.*

*So you love them?*

*Yes.* No question. Nova loves them, her weird dysfunctional family. 

*Then that's exactly why I'm doing this. Love destroys. Better if I destroy it first.*

"Hey, nova! Where is everyone?" Owen places a hand on novas shoulder, getting her to turn and face him. 

Asheera loads her gun discreetly behind her back. "I'm sorry."

*No!*

"What-"

*Owen! No! Owen!*

The bullet cuts through Owens thigh like a knife through butter. His leg immediately buckles as he screams in pain. Landing on the floor, hand gripped to his leg, he looks up at Asheera with confusion and betrayal in his eyes. "What are you doing?" 

*Owen! How could you!*

Asheera drops to a kneel beside him. She strokes a hand down his cheeks, tears sneering across his face. "she loves you, you know. Can't see why. You're all so weak, so easy to take down. Love is blind."

*You're a monster! A great big fucking monster-*

"Why are you doing this?" Owen asks through gritted teeth, realisation hitting him. This is not his nova. Something is possessing her. "who are you?"

*-who I will slaughter with my bare fucking hands if I ever get the chance!*

"I'm doing this because I need to get out of here, and I can't have any of you following me." Asheera says, standing back up. She tucks her gun into her waistband. "plus, it's fun."

*Owen!*

"Who are you!"

Asheera doesn't answer him. It's hard enough to keep a single line of thought with nova screaming inside her mind. Asheera grabs another gun from the drawer in Gwen's desk and goes to leave. But just before she does, she stops. "It's a shame, you know. You're kind of pretty."

And with that, she leaves the hub, and leaves Owen lying in a pool of his own blood.

*********************

The puddle of blood in their cell grows bigger with every passing second. Tosh does her best with what she has, but Gwen is struggling to stay conscious. She's lost far too much blood, and is in so much pain. 

Jack comes around, and looks up at Ianto with confusion. "Nova?"

Ianto sighs. "Possessed. We don't know how, or by what. But she calls herself Asheera." He helps jack sit up. 

"Where are Gwen and tosh?" Jack asks. He can't believe nova got.possessed and none of them saw it. It must have been while they were out on the weevil hunt. 

"In the next cell. Gwen's been shot." Ianto tells Jack, his voice solemn. The wound itself wasn't too bad, and is easily fixable. Trouble is, they haven't been able to fix it, and now Gwen is bleeding to death, while they're all trapped and helpless.

Jack can see the seriousness of the situation from the look in iantos eyes. "Owen?"

Ianto shakes his head. "He must have come back by now, but we haven't seen him. Asheera must have done something to him."

Jack sighs, and pulls back his sleeve to get at his vortex manipulator, out of habit. That's when he remembers it's not there anymore. “We need to get out of here.”

Ianto nods. He knows that, and he's not been doing nothing all this time he's been trapped in this cell, he has been trying to find an escape, but it's difficult, since the cells are meant to contain. If people could escape them, they wouldn’t be cells. 

A grunting sound can be heard coming from outside the cells. They all look around and see Owen limping towards them. A blood stained bandage is wrapped around his thigh, and his skin is ashen and coated in a thin layer of sweat. 

“Owen!” Tosh cries out when she sees him. “What happened?”

Owen goes to Tosh and Gwen's cell, and lets them out. “Nova, or whatever the fuck is possessing her, shot me in the leg.”

Tosh gets to work on the lock mechanism for Jack and Ianto's cell.

Owen crawls over to Gwen, checking her over. She's lost a lot of blood, but she’ll be okay. “Come on girl, you're gonna be okay.”

“How long ago was that?”Jack asks, as the door to his cell finally swings open. He needs to know everything that happened in his absence.

Owen groans. He checks his watch. “About twenty minutes ago, maybe a bit longer. I was a bit preoccupied at the time, and didn't really check what the time was.”

Jack nods, accepting that as a petty good excuse. He picks Gwen up, as Ianto helps Owen to his feet. They help the injured two into the medbay, where Owen gets to work hooking up Gwen to their emergency supply of blood, before starting to patch her up.

“Ianto, I need you to go back to the alleyway where we picked up that weevil earlier today, where nova hit her head. That seems to be where this possession took place. I need you to search for anything that could have caused it to happen. Tosh, I need you to track where Nova, or Asheera, is right now.” Jack says, rattling out orders. He himself stays in the medbay, helping owen where he needs it. Owen is trying to patch up Gwen, but isnt in a great state himself. After a few minutes, Jack has to grab a chair for Owen, and stab industrial strength painkillers into his bloodstream.

Everyone else gets to work on their respective jobs. Ianto takes the SUV and begins driving to where tosh directs him. Tosh can't yet pinpoint an exact location of Nova’s whereabouts but she has a general direction. 

“She's somewhere near the docks, on the other side of the bay.” Tosh says down the comms. Jack bounds up the stairs to Tosh's station. He looks at the screen. 

After about five minutes of searching, Ianto discovers a small cylindrical device. “Tosh , I think I've found it.”

“Good, now get back here so we can go and get Nova.” Jack orders.

“Wait!” Owen shouts, limping up the steps. “You're not going without me.”

“No, you are injured-” Jack starts

“I dont give a shit what condition I am in. Nova has been possessed for coming up 12 hours. Who knows what condition she’ll be in when she gets out of this.” Owen argues.

Jack sighs, knowing Owen has a point. “Come on then.”

*********************

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comment appreciated


	3. Chapter 3

It’s dark when they finally manage to catch up with Nova. Asheera is standing at the edge of the docks looking out to sea, surrounded by a pool of light coming from street lights overhead. In the distance there's a boat, clearly coming to pick Nova up and take her away to wherever it is she is planning on going.

Ianto and Jack get out of the car and begin walking over to their possessed colleague, while Owen just waits by the SUV, leaning against it. Ianto holds the strange device in his hands. He doesn't know what it does, but he can figure out enough to get it working, and hopefully fix whatever it did to Nova. 

“Nova!” jack calls.

Standing at the end of the pier, Nova spins around to face them. Anger flashes across her features. “How are you here?”

“Next time you try to lock us up, do a better job at it.”

But there isn't going to be another time, they'll make sure of that.

“Too bad.” Nova says, “your precious Nova is gone. You can't injure me without injuring her, and she's buried so deep within her own mind that-”

Asheera’s little speech is cut off by a gunshot causing a bullet to rip through her upper arm. She screams, falling to her knees. Her eyes lock onto the person who pulled the trigger: Owen.

His face is twisted in anguish. He hates doing this, but Asheera needs to be stopped, and the easiest way to distract her is to injure her, even if that means it hurts Nova. “I'm sorry Nova.”

*i understand.* Nova thinks. She can feel the pain radiating through her arm, but it's dimmed by asheera’s own thoughts.

“You shot me? You shot Nova?”

“You underestimate our willingness to stop you.” Jack says, taking the little device that started this whole thing. He holds it up for asheera to see. “You nearly killed one of our friends, and possessed another. We will stop you, whatever it takes.”

Asheera’s face goes pale when she sees the device. “No, you can't send me back!”

But Jack presses a button on top of the cylindrical device, but to her it feels like bonds breaking. Whatever force is keeping asheera trapped in her body is now letting this ghost go, forcing her back into her tiny metal prison. Asheera screams, her back arching off the ground, as her life force is ripped from the body she has made a new home in.

From his position by the SUV, Owen watches with bated breath. Seeing Nova writhing on the floor like that, screaming as her soul is getting ripped from her body, is incredibly painful to watch. He yearns to go to her, hold her and soothe her pain, but he knows that in this case it is a necessary evil. He can only hope that Nova isn't the one experiencing the pain, that it is asheera and Asheera only who can feel it.

Nova feels the final release as asheera leaves her body. But her physical body is exhausted from the strain it's been put under.

When Nova's body goes still, and slumbs onto the wooden floor of the deck, everyone’s hearts stop, just for a second. Jack and Ianto rush to her, checking for a pulse, hoping she's okay. 

Owen, despite his pain, runs to her as quickly as he can manage, grunting in pain as he does. He gathers her into his lap, rocking her. 

“Is she going to be okay?” Ianto asks

Owen does a quick run down of her physical condition, and nods. Her heart rate is faster than he would like, but for the time being he’s putting that down to the stress she's just been under. With time, it should return to normal. Her arm is bleeding a lot, but he fixes that up with a few bandages and a pressure cuff. Jack drapes his coat over Nova's unconscious form to try and help her retain some body heat. Night has only just fallen, but it’s still pretty cold. 

After five minutes, the bleeding has almost stopped, her heart rate and breathing is at a normal level, but still her eyes remain closed, she stays unresponsive. Owen knows this shouldn't be a worrying thing considering Nova has been possessed for 12 hours, but he can't help but worry that if Nova doesn't wake up now, she never will.

“Owen, we need to get her back to the hub.” Jack tells him. 

Owen sends him a despairing look, but nods. He’s a doctor, and the doctor in him is telling him to get Nova to a warm and clean area. But his heart, his emotions, are telling him to wait, just another minute, and maybe she’ll wake up.

Jack can see the battle occurring inside his friend, so gets to his feet. “Let me go and put this in the SUV, and then i'll help with Nova.”

Ianto stays with Owen, in case the injured medic needs help. 

Consciousness slams into Nova like a truck. She gasps, eyes shooting open. She feels arms pinning her down and panic. Screaming, she tries to fight off whatever is holding her down.

“Nova, Nova it's okay.”

Her mind is groggy. She can vaguely remember Asheera’s soul leaving her body, can remember pain but other than that. 

“Nova, stop fighting me!”

That's owen. 

Nova calms down when she realises who holds her. She collapses against the warm body, looking up at Owen's kind eyes. He smiles. She smiles.

“Can we go home now?”

Owen laughs. “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading and thanks for putting up with any mistakes
> 
> comments and kudos much appreciated
> 
> :-)

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for any mistakes. 
> 
> Thank you for reading :)


End file.
